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Billy Hall (Texas politician)
| death_date= | birth_place=Laredo, Webb County Texas, USA | death_place=Laredo, Texas | resting_place=Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Laredo, Texas | occupation=Journalist; Educator; Banker | residence=Laredo, Texas | religion=Roman Catholic | spouse=Annabelle Uribe Hall | children=William N. Hall, III | religion=Roman Catholic | alma_mater=Martin High School University of Texas at Austin |branch= |battles= |rank= |footnotes= }} William N. "Billy" Hall, Jr. (August 20, 1940 - February 19, 2002), was a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from Laredo, Texas, who served in District 57 from 1973 to 1987. He was subsequently the county treasurer of Webb County, from 1995 until his death. Biography Hall's House tenure came during the administrations of Governors Dolph Briscoe, Bill Clements, and Mark White. He did not seek an eighth two-year term in 1986 but instead contested the Democratic primary for the Texas State Senate, having lost to fellow Democrat Judith Zaffirini, a public relations specialist from Laredo. In the legislature, Hall was a strong advocate of Laredo State University (subsequently Texas A&M International University and located on a new campus off the Bob Bullock Expressway in east Laredo. Hall was a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, chaired the Law Enforcement and Liquor Regulation committees, and served on the Revenue and Taxation Committee. In 1959, Hall graduated from Martin High School, where he was a football player. In 1963, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism. He was the former publisher of the South Texas Citizen, a newspaper started by his father, William Hall, Sr. Thereafter, Hall, Jr., sold the paper to a businessman in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. A former teacher, Hall was later an officer with the International Bank of Commerce owned by former gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez of Laredo. Republican Governor William P. "Bill" Clements, Jr., then named the Democrat Hall in 1987 to the National Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. Courthouse.]] South Campus]] In January 1995, Hall was appointed Webb County treasurer by the commissioners court after the previous treasurer, Mike Urdiales, resigned to become one of the four commissioners. Hall was elected to a full term in 1998, but he died of congestive heart failure during the primary campaign of 2002, when he was a candidate for a second term. Hall's great-grandfather, A. M. Bruni, was also a Webb County treasurer. Hall was succeeded as treasurer by fellow Democrat Delia Perales, who in the general election defeated the Republican candidate, Joe A. Guerra, a former five-term member of the Laredo City Council. In 2007, the Webb County Commissioners Court named the county administrative building after Hall. There is a bronze bust of Hall in the lobby of the building.Clay Reddick, "Unveiling marks naming building after former Webb treasurer", Laredo Morning Times, August 21, 2007 Hall is also honored through the William N. "Billy" Hall Student Center on the Laredo Community College South Campus, located off U.S. Highway 83 in southeastern Laredo. Hall was married to the former Annabelle Uribe (born ca. 1947). Their son is William Hall, III. References Category:1940 births Category:2002 deaths Category:People from Laredo, Texas Category:Members of the Texas House of Representatives Category:Texas Democrats Category:American educators Category:American bankers Category:American newspaper publishers (people) Category:American politicians of Mexican descent Category:Martin High School (Laredo, Texas) alumni Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni Category:Journalists from Texas Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure